Cost
by Shade Penn
Summary: Sequel to Worth. Everything had a price, even freedom. Will wished he realized that sooner.


Everything seemed to have blurred together, leaving Will with no perception of how much time had passed so far. It could have been days, or months, or years for all he knew, but he was hesitant to go that far; he was sure he would be aging if it had been years, and the Autobots hadn't really acted besides giving him food, water, and a pot for his business.

It was humiliating, but what other choice did he have?

That didn't even take into account the times he'd wake up feeling his arm stinging and a fresh bandage around a pinprick where they took his blood, or the measured glances they'd give him when they checked on him. He'd stopped cursing them out, but only because he didn't want to get sedated anymore. He'd boycott eating, if he wasn't so certain they'd force feed him again, or try and find a different method to keep him secure.

Will thought the only reason Ratchet hadn't put him into a medically induced coma was _because_ of the Allspark. For all they knew, he needed to be conscious to use it, and maybe they did. Why else would they take his blood? Other than to check for diseases, he meant?

'_After all, they wouldn't want to lose their precious Allspark, would they?'_ he thought bitterly, leaning against the wall and stared blankly at the ceiling. He felt like a caged animal, or some kind of pet, but that wouldn't be an accurate assumption.

Pets were taken care of, played with, and most importantly, the owner was supposed to _want_ them. Will knew the Autobots were just going through the motions; with no real understanding that Will was slowly beginning to contemplate whether he was strong enough to end it all. Still, that image of his Sarah and Annabelle, who was just a baby when he'd finally gotten to see her, were what stayed his hand.

Annie never really knew him, and wouldn't know who he was if he showed up out of the blue, and Sarah thought he was dead. He could spend hours thinking about his family, but the thought of them brought so much pain because he knew it was just a dream to think he'd see them again.

Will closed his eyes. _'I just want to see them, know how their doing; instead I'm stuck in here.'_

The door opened, but Will didn't bother to open his eyes and acknowledge the Autobot that had come in. His one and only vindication was that the Autobots couldn't make him use the Allspark's power any more than he could. He tried, when they weren't around, but it didn't work.

If the Allspark was truly sentient like he'd heard the Autobots murmur when they thought he couldn't hear, then he'd just wanted to know one thing: _why?_ Had it known was it was doing? If it did, then he hoped whatever entity was inside him was suffering just as much as him; maybe _that's_ why he couldn't use the power.

"Will." The deep tone of the Prime uttered.

Will reluctantly opened his eyes to glare at him; it irritated the hell out of him that the Autobots could still use his name and not think what they were doing was wrong. He could never forget though what _they_ were seeing as they looked at him; the memory of Prim promising him, or rather, the _Allspark_, that he'd protect him. Yes, every time they tried to be nice, he would _never_ forget that.

"What?" he questioned, with his voice raspy from underuse and the shouting he'd done.

"We have decided it is…too taxing to hold you." The mech replied, as if he was choosing his words carefully.

Will felt something stir inside of him; was it hope? He didn't think he could remember that last time he felt like that. Yet something else tempered it; it was suspicion. "You're going to let me out of here?" he asked and Prime nodded. Will narrowed his eyes. "What's the catch? I'm not going to use the Allspark powers for you."

"We have realized that, and we do not find it beneficial to keep you in this environment any longer." Prime replied.

The man analyzed the words carefully, but he couldn't find anything wrong with it. "Then what are you going to do?"

"Let you leave." Prime stated. "As I said; keeping you in there is not helping us."

'_Yes, because you didn't figure that out ages ago, did you?'_ Will thought scathingly. Still, it felt too good to be true. "What about your oath? The Decepticons?"

"I swore an oath to keep you safe, I realize now that my own needs to prevent another failure have caused you unhappiness." Prime explained. "We will all work to ensure the Decepticons won't trouble you."

"You're really letting me go?" Will questioned. "No more force-feeding, no more going in a pot, no more needles, I'm free to go?"

"I swear to you, you will no longer have to be contained in this room." Prime said solemnly.

Will felt like crying; after all that, they were finally going to let him go. He wanted to be angry it took the Autobots so long to realize he wasn't going to help them, and that trying to restrict him wasn't helping anymore. He'd worry about the fact everyone thought he was dead later, after he had a shower and a change of clothes. "Then what are you waiting for, get me out of this box!"

He felt like flinching when Prime's digits curled around him to lift him out, but for now he could care less. He felt excitement bubbling under the surface. He ran his hand through his shaggy, matted hair as he tried to at least keep himself together instead of trying to jump for joy.

He had to shield his eyes from the harsh lights of the hallways, but once his eyes adjusted; he drank in the sight of the empty halls hungrily, like he'd never seen them before. His suspicions only came back to him when he suddenly realized what direction Prime was taking him in. "Why are we going to Ratchet's medical room?"

"The humans think you have perished, it would not do to startle them." Prime replied.

"You could just say that I was missing and found me." Will retorted.

"We reported there was nothing left of Will." Prime said, and Will felt a shudder roll through him.

Hearing himself being spoken about it such a detached way; it just cemented what he already figured out, the Autobots didn't really care about _him_ at all now. Will Lennox was dead to them, likely ever since Ratchet had found Allspark traces in him. "That wasn't your call." He whispered.

Prime said nothing as he continued walking, and Ratchet was hunched over a large screen. "How goes it, old friend?"

Ratchet glanced at Will momentarily before his attention was fixed on Prime. "Extremely well; I believe I've perfected it." He said and gazed down at a cylinder filled with some strange blue liquid. "It's been reacting as I predicted. Just a few nips here and there, but it's been converting steadily every time I added more liquid."

"What is that?" Will questioned as he nodded at the cylinder.

Ratchet looked down at him. "That is energon." He replied. "I found that your systems had been changing, so I had to resort to experimentally lacing your food with it, to keep you healthy."

Will was horrified by this discovery. Was he just some experiment to the medic? Prime certainly saw him as a second chance; he didn't want to know what Ironhide thought of him, that betrayal stung deeper than he thought it would. "Can I still eat food without the energon?"

Ratchet stared at him strangely. "Why would you need human food anymore?" he questioned, and it left Will with precious few seconds for it to click.

Prime had _lied_ to him.

Will stared accusingly up at the mech, who would not meet his gaze. "You-" he was cut off by the feeling of something in his arm and his eyes rolled back before he slumped over the mech's digits, out cold.

* * *

Will felt weightless, and for a moment he thought whatever the Autobots were going to do to him had failed, and that he was dead. _'Serves them right, thinking they can just experiment on me.'_

_You aren't dead,_ a voice whispered from all around him, _but you will soon wish you were._

Will didn't like the sound of that. Was it his subconscious talking to him. "A little late on the obvious, you know."

_You have experience betrayal from those you thought you could trust._ The voice continued, sounding like a mixture of both male and female. _The Prime with his delusion, the Medic with his eagerness, but you have yet to experience the true betrayal of your comrades._

From the sounds of things, his mind was making it out like _Ironhide_ was going to cast the finishing blow. Sure, he'd given him the drugged water, set him up with Ratchet, lied to him, and went along with the others, so hadn't he _already_ betrayed him ten fold? What else could he do to him?

_You have failed to realize what my primary function is, and for that I am sorry._ The voice whispered, but before Will could ask, he felt himself feeling heavy again.

'_Great, I'm going crazy and I'm not dead.'_ He thought, opening his eyes, but sighed deeply when he saw a darkened roof over him. _'Whatever they drugged me with better not have inhibited me_.' He added and attempted to get up, but his body wouldn't respond.

It felt heavier than it had any right to be considering the fact he was barely fed beforehand. He tried to move his head, but only succeeded in letting it loll to the side, and it landed on a metal surface. Was he on a table? He could still feel himself, and felt his hand, but it was impossible to move.

The door slid open, and Ironhide walked in, which left Will wanting to reel at the fact the mech wasn't much taller now. Just what kind of surface was he on, anyway? Ironhide walked over to him, and sat down beside him, looking concerned. Will wanted to sneer; where was this concern earlier?

The words wouldn't come though, just a rusty sound from his throat.

"Don't try to talk; Ratchet said your vocals were still being healed." Ironhide replied.

Will stared; healed from _what?_ He wanted to ask what had happened to him, just what was injected into him, but he couldn't move or make a sound. The mech raised a hand to him, and to Will's shock, he felt it along his cheek, making the horror from earlier return full force.

'_They changed me, that's what they were planning,'_ Will realized, '_they were _never_ going to let me go.'_

"Prime says when you're healed, you can help with restoration." Ironhide continued as his servo trailed along the ridge of Will's neck.

Will heard and felt the scrapping of metal on metal, and from the crash course Sam had given him and the other soldiers; he became all too aware of what Ironhide was talking about. It made him feel just as stupid though to ever have trusted anything Prime said, but desperation made him weak, and he'd wanted to see his family again.

Now though, not even thinking of them would be able to help him through the nightmare of what was coming. Of what he _knew_ would be coming.

The Allspark, after all, was the life-giver, and life couldn't start without it. Now that Will was one of them though, what little power he held over the Autobots was gone. He was still in a cube, but this time it was his _body_.

'_Prime kept saying I could leave the _room_, not that they'd let me go._' Will thought despairingly. He realized the Prime had kept his promise, but Will was too blind to realize what the cost of his freedom was.

Now as he finally put the pieces all together, it was too late.


End file.
